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Sebastian Gregerson (Photo from Midland.Mugshot.com
Maryland Imam Suleiman Bengharsa calls the allegations totally unfounded.
“It’s ridiculous. All I can say is it’s ridiculous,” he tells the Detroit News “If this was the case, why haven’t they come to arrest me?”
Robert Snell of the Detroit News reports that FBI agents are investigating an alleged conspiracy involving Detroit terror suspect Sebastian Gregerson and Bengharsa, 59, of Clarksburg, Md., who authorities suspect may have been plotting a violent jihad.
Bengharsa has not been charged. Gregerson, aka Abdurrahman Bin Mikaayl, is in prison awaiting trial on charges of unregistered possession of a destructive device and unlicensed receipt of explosive materials. So far, authorities have not charged him with a terrorism related charge.
Snell reports:
The conspiracy angle is revealed in more than 200 pages of sealed federal court records obtained by The News that offer new details about an FBI counterterrorism investigation spanning at least three states. The investigation emerged July 31 when Gregerson of Detroit was arrested in Monroe after allegedly buying fragmentation grenades from an undercover FBI agent and amassing an arsenal of weapons.
Maryland Imam Suleiman Bengharsa allegedly helped finance the arsenal, which included two AK-47s, handguns, seven rifles, a shotgun and thousands of rounds of ammunition, according to the court records. It is unknown whether the imam was financing weapons purchases in other parts of the country.
“Based on the totality of the aforementioned information and evidence, there is reason to believe that Bengharsa and Gregerson are engaged in discussions and preparations for some violent act on behalf of (the Islamic State),” an FBI agent wrote in a Jan. 7 search warrant application.
The investigation also involves Virginia, Snell reports.
